SCALABLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIO-URBAN WASTE RECOVERY

Project Information

SCALIBUR

Grant agreement ID: 817788

DOI

10.3030/817788

Project closed

EC signature date 10 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 31 October 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 11 728 483,61

EU contribution

€ 9 999 391,39

Coordinated by

INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO DEL EMBALAJE, TRANSPORTE Y LOGISTICA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SCALIBUR (SCALABLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIO-URBAN WASTE RECOVERY)

Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2022-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the EU over 100 million tonnes of biowaste are thrown away each year, with management of this waste representing a cost as large as 143 billion euros. Currently 75% of this goes to landfill or is incinerated, causing major environmental problems. To overcome this challenge, SCALIBUR project aims to demonstrate innovative solutions to transform urban biowaste and sewage sludge into high value-added products, helping cities to increase their recycling rate and creating new circular economy business opportunities. SCALIBUR's solution will be implemented on two fronts: (i) improving the biowaste collection and (ii) creating high-value products.
In three pilot cities - Albano Laziale (Italy), Kozani (Greece) and Madrid (Spain), SCALIBUR will showcase approaches to increase the quality and quantity of biowaste collected. Specifically, SCALIBUR partners will identify and develop best practices for selective collection, transport, sorting and pre-treatment, and characterisation of Organic Fraction Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), HORECA and retail waste and sewage sludge. Partners will identify technical best practices in terms of containerisation and depositing/collection of waste. Attention will also be paid to citizen awareness campaigning and the most effective incentive schemes. A start to end process for sorting and pre-treatment of OFMSW will be developed, including an innovative biowaste monitoring system. Best practices for sorting and pre-treating sewage sludge will also be sought. Transport and logistics of urban biowaste will be optimised during the project by identifying the best methods and algorithms to reduce collection times, avoiding transport steps and optimise the time needed to reach the treatment plants. Afterward, partners will develop a characterisation protocol for the three biowaste fractions. This will help to optimise the feedstocks for conversion to high added-value products.
Partners will engage stakeholders along the value chain – from waste generators to collectors and processors – to support the integration of innovative biowaste management practices in three pilot cities. Pilot actions will start in 2020.
Common recycling routes such as composting result in low-value products. SCALIBUR will create new business opportunities by demonstrating innovative value chains to transform three urban biowaste streams into high-value industrial products. The products include different kinds of bioplastics and biopesticides, as well as proteins, lipids and chitin for food and feed applications.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

New processes were developed and implemented in SCALIBUR for the improvement of biowaste collection. Firstly, an innovative system of sensors was developed and tested in collection containers.
Moreover, Scalibur worked on the development of innovative pretreatment processes to prepare the organic materials for the subsequent treatments.
Furthermore, a deep study of the main problems occurring in the cities was carried out together with stakeholders. Then, a list of best practices were developed together with partners, cities and other companies and stakeholders. All these innovations were tested in three pilot cities (Madrid-Spain, Albano-Italy, Kozani-Greece). Results show important improvements in each city.
Regarding biowaste treatment, SCALIBUR aimed to produce high value products from biowaste. The organic fraction of the municipal solid waste (OFMSW) has been demonstrate to extract the sugar fraction contained with the aim to manufacture different bio-based products (biopesticides and biobased polyesters).
Furthermore, insects like Black soldier flies (BSF, Hermetia illucens) can convert in a very efficient way kitchen and restaurant scraps, or simply organic materials, into biomass rich in proteins, lipids, and chitin.
Chitin and its derivatives represent a well-reviewed biopolymer with many beneficial applications. The preparations for chitin and its derivatives as a biomaterial vary according to process conditions and potential applications. However, their main sources are crustaceans, and research on alternative sources is still under development.
Valorisation of sewage sludge has been also demonstrate within the framework of the SCALIBUR project, a technological solution was designed and developed to increase efficiency in the anaerobic digestion process of sludge in water treatment plant (WWTP), carried out in two stages.
On the other hand, municipal wastewater sludge is microbiologically active and is rich in bacteria that can store biopolymers, namely polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHA is a biodegradable polyester with thermoplastic properties similar to fossil fuel-based polymers. The PHA was produced in infrastructure at pilot scale.
To facilitate the connection between biowaste stakeholders, SCALIBUR also developed an interactive platform called The Biowaste Hub, available in this link: www.thebiowastehub.com
SCALIBUR also studied the sustainability of all technologies developed. The environmental study showed that with the implementation of the value chains developed in SCALBIUR, some improvements in the environmental impact were achieved when compared to the conventional treatments or conventional products

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

- Development of techno-economically consistent value chains for the conversion of biowaste validated at TRL 7 - Final processes and products validated for the three value chains (OFMSW, HORECA waste and sewage sludge).
- New businesses and organisational models for cities progress - New business models have been identified: biopolymers and biopesticides (WP4), protein, lipids, and chitin (WP5); biofertilisers, compounds and PHBV (WP6)
- Improved citizen perception of biowaste as a resource. - Biowaste Club meetings done in the pilots. Additional engagement and online activities. 469 stakehokders and 699 citizens were reached.
- More sustainable and resilient protein supply chain, SCALIBUR will provide an innovative, sustainable and resilient pattern to obtain proteins for food and feed applications. In WP5, UNIMORE and KOUR have developed a new approach using insect feed with HORECA and ROW to obtain proteins.
- Safety assessment of biobased products and processes from biowaste. - Homogeneisation and pretreatment processes were done to ensure the quality and safety of the final products. Also products were characterized to ensure required quality (properties and application of the materials).
- Reduced amount of landfilled waste and reduced environmental impact of MSW and food waste. – Increase in quantity and quality of collected and treated organic waste in the three pilot cities which reduces landfilling.
- Detailed assessment of technical, regulatory, financial, logistic and market barriers to the exploitation of the biowaste value chain / Evidence based support for the EU policies/targets. – Collaboration within Scalibur and also with other projects were done in order to prepare a joint policy paper whcis ws presented in a specific policy event in Brussels. .
- Societal impacts: job creation – This was assessed in the project. 31% of companies increased in 1-3 workers, 8% in 3-5 workers and 3% in more that 5 workers due to Scalibur.

Infographic of the innovative value chains to transform biowaste into high value products